To be eligible for Spanish citizenship by descent, you need to meet one of the following criteria:
Capital city
Madrid
Visa free countries
Schengen Area
Total area
505,990 km2
Languages
Spanish, Catalan, Basque, Galician
Currency
Euro €
Population
47,450,795
Time zone
UTC±0 to +1
Freedom of movement within the Schengen zone
Ranked #1 globally for ease of doing business
Ibero-American nationals gain citizenship after
two years
Considered one of the best places for retirees given its affordable cost
of living
There are 4 primary Paths to obtaining Spanish Citizenship through Ancestry
Naturalization to Spanish citizenship normally requires 10 years of continuous residence and the renunciation of your other citizenships.
With the Spanish Citizenship by Ancestry stream, you can apply for naturalization after only 1 or 2 years of residence in Spain. Recently, the Spanish authorities relaxed their physical presence requirements for those applying through the ancestry stream.
You are only required to spend no more than 3 months continuously outside of Spain (meaning you can travel back and forth every 3 months and only spend a handful of days in Spain a year, if that’s your desire).
For nationals of the countries below or persons of Sephardic origin:
If you qualify for fast-track naturalization, you’ll need to obtain a resident permit to be allowed to legally reside in Spain. To qualify for naturalization, you’ll need to have 1 or 2 years of residence. Residence means you spend less than 3 continuous months outside of Spain.
You have a few options to gain a resident permit in Spain, but the recommended one is the Spanish Investor Residency program, also known as the Spanish Golden Visa. This is the favored option for HNWI since it offers more flexibility and security. Be aware that once your citizenship application is submitted, it takes 1 year for the Spanish authorities to process your request, meaning it will take 2 to 3 years from the moment you gain residence in Spain to the moment you become a citizen.
This is why the Golden Visa is the recommended route, as others require annual renewals or have requirements to fulfill each year. Also, it’s the only way for you to dodge the Spanish Wealth Tax on your worldwide assets.
STAGE 1 | MONTH 1
Before being able to apply for fast-track naturalization, you’ll need to gain legal residence in Spain. Choose your favored path and start gathering the relevant documents you need to apply. Application for the Investor visa is pretty fast and can be completed in 1 or 2 months.
STAGE 2 | MONTH 2
After you have landed in Spain, register with the municipality in which you will reside. You’ll have to be physically present for half of the year in Spain for it to count towards naturalization.
STAGE 3 | YEAR 2 - 4
Once you are eligible to apply for naturalization (1 or 2 years of residence), gather your documents and submit your application (preferably online for faster processing). After 1 year, you’ll be notified of the decision. If the decision is positive, you’ll be asked to appear to pledge allegiance. You’ll receive your citizenship certificate shortly after that process is completed.
Step 1: Member onboarding
Kick-off call
Portal
set-up
Complete Pedigree Tree
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Step 2: Vital Records Retrieval
Spain
Cuba, Puerto Rico & USA
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Step 3: Vital Records Prep
Notarizacion
Apostillization
Translation
Step 4: Application Preparation
Preparation
Consular Appointment
Submission
Step 5: Citizenship Approval
Preparation
Step 6: Passport Approval
Citizenship Certificate
Oath swearing at local consulate
Spanish Passport
To be eligible for fast-track naturalization, you need to have spent eight months a year in Spain. To be able to legally reside in Spain, you need to first apply for residency. You can obtain a Wealth Visa or a Golden Visa for that purpose. Sephardic Jews are not required to be physically present in Spain during those two years.
Spanish citizenship by descent offers three distinct routes:
1. If you have a Spanish parent or grandparent born in Spain, you can claim your citizenship by making an appointment at your nearest Spanish consulate.
2. If you are a national of Ibero-American countries or of Andorra, the Philippines, Equatorial Guinea, Portugal, or a person of Sephardic origin, you can apply for fast-track naturalization after two years of residence in Spain.
The process for Spanish citizenship by ancestry can take 12-18 months,
depending on the route and your eligibility.
For those that require it, to be able to legally reside in Spain, you need to first apply for residency. You can obtain a Wealth Visa or a Golden Visa for that purpose.
Each path to Citizenship has a unique series of requirements that must be fulfilled when applying.. If applicable. for residence permit requirements, read the Spanish Golden Visa section.
Some requirements might include:
Police Report:
A Police Certificate from your country of origin, translated, legalized, and issued by the competent authorities.
Language and Civic Test:
You must take the Constitutional and Sociocultural Knowledge Test (CCSE) and the Spanish Language Proficiency Test (DELE). Nationals of a country in which Spanish is an official language are exempt from the DELE examination.
Physical Presence:
You will need an “empadronamiento”, a certificate from the municipality in which you are a registered resident.
Oath of Allegiance:You must swear allegiance to the King of Spain and obedience to the Constitution and laws. During this process, you must orally renounce your previous citizenship unless you’re from an exempted nation.
For the resident permit, the spouse and minor children also receive a resident permit with the main applicant. Under the Golden Visa, parents of the main applicant can also receive a resident permit.
For naturalization, the child of the main applicant will automatically become a Spanish citizen with its parent. The spouse will be able to apply 1 year after the main applicant has received Spanish citizenship if, at the time of the application, they have been married for one year to a Spanish national and are not legally separated or have not had a common-law separation.
Take a free eligibility test today! Your eligibility for ancestry-based citizenship will be determined within 48 hours by the internal genealogy team at Global RCG.
Enjoy our articles related to Spain
We recommend checking out sephardim.com. If your surname pops up on a list there, it’s a good sign that you have the required ancestry.
The FCJE is a good starting place to find a proper authority – the Fedeacion de Comunidades Judias de España.
Spain has dual citizenship agreements in place with a number of Latin American countries and former colonies (see list above). If your country is on this list you will not need to give up your passport.
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